Alert archive / Kentucky / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 84, NWS Louisville, KY

April 28, 2002Nelson County, Kentucky

NWS Louisville, KY issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Apr 28, 2002, 5:11 AM EDT for Nelson County, Kentucky. It was in force for 34 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Apr 28, 2002, 5:11 AM EDT (09:11 UTC)
Expired: Apr 28, 2002, 5:45 AM EDT
In force: 34 min
Issued by: NWS Louisville, KY
Area: Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Nelson County, KY

The radar

The Louisville radar (KLVX), 43 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 09:13 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Apr 28, 5:30 AM EDT	Thunderstorm Wind 75 E	New Hope, KY	Telephone poles were downed.

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in.

Did it verify

Not verified. The Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow found no qualifying storm report inside this severe thunderstorm warning while it was in force. That is not proof nothing happened: reports are thin where few people live.

Cow counts a report within 15 km of the polygon while the warning was in force: a tornado for a tornado warning; hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more or wind damage for a severe thunderstorm warning; a flash flood report for a flash flood warning.

The watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Apr 28, 3:00 AM EDT	Tornado Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Nashville Metro, TN (KBNA), launched 00:00Z, 9.2 hours before the alert went out and 218 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 3 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -39 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 833 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 50 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 372 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 488 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

574 
WUUS53 KLMK 280911
SVRSDF
KYC179-280945-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY
509 AM EDT SUN APR 28 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LOUISVILLE HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  NELSON COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL KENTUCKY

* UNTIL 545 AM EDT

* AT 508 AM EDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS FROM HIGHGROVE TO BOSTON...OR FROM 23
  MILES SOUTHEAST OF LOUISVILLE TO 31 MILES SOUTH OF LOUISVILLE...
  MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 30 MPH.

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE NEAR...
  NEW HAVEN...COXS CREEK AROUND 520 AM EDT
  FAIRFIELD AROUND 525 AM EDT
  NEW HOPE...NAZARETH AROUND 530 AM EDT
  BLOOMFIELD...BARDSTOWN...BALLTOWN AROUND 535 AM EDT

THIS IS A DANGEROUS LINE OF STORMS...CAPABLE OF PRODUCING 
DAMAGING WINDS. IF YOU ARE IN THIS STORMS PATH...TAKE COVER
IMMEDIATELY IN A STURDY STRUCTURE UNTIL IT HAS PASSED. STAY AWAY FROM
WINDOWS AND ANY DOWNED POWER LINES.

REPORT SEVERE WEATHER TO YOUR NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY. THEY
WILL RELAY YOUR REPORT TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECAST
OFFICE IN LOUISVILLE.

LAT...LON 3798 8550 3779 8572 3758 8556 3795 8517
          3794 8539

$$
DK

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Louisville, KY wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Apr 28, 12:51 AM EDT, 4 hours 20 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 28, 12:51 AM EDT, 4 hours 20 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE KY
1251 AM EDT SUN APR 28 2002

...FOCUS ON SVR WX ATTM AND WINDS SUN...

STG 500MB WAVE OVR IA IN CONJ WITH SFC THETA-E AXIS OVER MID-MS RVR
VLY ALLOWING FOR +TSRA TO DEVELOP E OF KSTL...AT INTERSECTION OF THE
NOSE OF 80KT 500MB AND 60KT 850MB JET CORES. TSRA OVER CWA ATTM
OCCURRING NEAR SFC INTERFACE OF NWD MVG WARM FRONT AND AXIS OF 3HR
PRES FALLS FROM KSDF TO KCLE AT 4Z. PER LAPS/META SOUNDINGS AND SPC
WEB-MESOANAL...TSRA E OF KSTL WILL FORM LINE OF SVR CELLS WITH WIND
DAMAGE PRIMARY THREAT AS DCAPE AXIS IS ASSOC WITH LINE AND VRY STG
SFC-4KM WIND FIELDS. 700-500MB L/RS ARENT THE BEST WITH THIS SYS
BUT SIG 700MB DRYING OCCURRING OVER MS-RVR VLY LEADING TO SVR
DOWNDRAFTS. POOL OF 1KM SR-HEL ABV 500 M2/S2 AND LCLS BLO 1KM SUG
ISO CELLS COULD SPAWN TORNADOES ESP OVER SRN PERIPHERY OF SVR
COMPLEX. LMTG FACTOR IS INSTAB/CIN WITH CAPES FROM KPAH-KSTL ONLY
AROUND 1000 J/KG BUT STG LOW-LVL WAA WILL LIKELY INCR THESE VALUES
AS NIGHT WEARS ON. ALSO CONVECT CURR OVER KY ATTM MAY LIMIT
SFC-BASED INSTAB. OVERALL 0Z META SHOWING BEST LIFT OVER IL/IN BUT
SOME EXTENDING INTO KY...AND BASED ON LTG TRENDS THINK BKN LINE OF
STG/SVR STORMS WILL MOVE INTO CWA AROUND 7Z. SUN SFC-LI FIELDS SHOW
COLD FRONT SLOWLY MVG THRU CWA FROM NW-SE WITH POOL OF -5C TO -8C
VALUES AHEAD OF SFC FRONT...SEEMS REASONABLE GIVEN UPSTREAM SCT/CLR
SKIES. META FCST RAOBS SHOW DRY-ADIAB L/RS TO 800MB OVER ERN ZONES
SUN PM WITH STG WINDS IN LOWEST 3KM. SO ANOTHER ROUND OF STG TSRA
LIKELY SUN...ENDING NW-SE AS SFC FRONT MOVES THRU. FRZ-LEVEL DROPS
TO 11KFT SO SOME HAILERS POSSIBLE ALONG WITH STG WINDS. PRE-FRONTAL
ATMOS MIXED TO 800MB AND POST FRONTAL MIXED TO 875MB...WITH 925MB
WINDS AT/ABOVE 45KTS AND SFC WINDS AT/ABOVE 25KTS MOST OF THE DAY.
WILL LIKELY ISSUE WIND ADV (NPWSDF) FOR ENTIRE CWA PRIMARILY ON
THREAT OF GUSTS OVER 45 MPH. SUBSIDENT AIRMASS MOVES IN SUN NIGHT
WITH SFC HIGH INTO MO. META 900MB RH STILL HIGH OVER CWA SO WILL GO
M/CLOUDY. MON SFC-875MB L/RS NEAR DRY-ADIABATIC SO BKN SC/CU WILL
LIKELY PERSIST WITH 900MB RHS ABV 80%. WILL JUST GO WITH BLEND OF
GUIDANCE AND META FOR POPS/TEMPS.

.SDF...WIND ADV SUN ALL ZONES (NPWSDF).

SMALLCOMB

In the hours before

Local storm report, Apr 28, 4:38 AM EDT, 33 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE, KY
438 AM EDT SUN APR 28 2002

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0422 AM    CLOVERPORT                KY   TORNADO
04/28/02   BRECKINRIDGE                   *** 0 DEAD, 0 INJ ***
                                          TORNADO ON THE GROUND AT
                                          THE INTERSECTION OF HWY 144
                                          AND CLOVERPORT RD

Local storm report, Apr 28, 5:01 AM EDT, 10 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOUISVILLE, KY
501 AM EDT SUN APR 28 2002

TIME(EDT)  .....CITY LOCATION.....STATE   ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0450 AM    HARTFORD                  KY   WIND DAMAGE
04/28/02   OHIO                           12 LARGE TREES DOWN... ONE
                                          WHICH WAS 80 FEET TALL

The office that day

Everything else NWS Louisville, KY issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Apr 28, 3:54 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Hancock	36 min
Apr 28, 4:09 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Breckinridge, Meade	36 min
Apr 28, 4:18 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Jefferson, Oldham	42 min
Apr 28, 4:18 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	LMK	Breckinridge	12 min
Apr 28, 4:28 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	LMK	Meade	22 min
Apr 28, 4:35 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	LMK	Ohio	40 min
Apr 28, 4:41 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	LMK	Bullitt, Hardin	24 min
Apr 28, 4:59 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Bullitt, Hardin	31 min
Apr 28, 5:02 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Butler, Edmonson	43 min
Apr 28, 5:05 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Butler, Edmonson	40 min
Apr 28, 5:16 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Spencer	19 min
Apr 28, 5:23 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	LMK	Edmonson	22 min
Apr 28, 5:32 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Hardin, Larue	33 min
Apr 28, 5:35 AM EDT	Tornado Warning	LMK	Hart	40 min
Apr 28, 5:41 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Anderson, Washington	34 min
Apr 28, 5:49 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Mercer	31 min
Apr 28, 5:55 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Woodford	20 min
Apr 28, 5:59 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Green, Taylor	31 min
Apr 28, 6:03 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Fayette, Jessamine	27 min
Apr 28, 6:07 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Bourbon, Nicholas	13 min
Apr 28, 6:16 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Clark, Madison	24 min
Apr 28, 6:23 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Boyle, Garrard	27 min
Apr 28, 6:33 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Adair, Casey	42 min
Apr 28, 6:36 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Adair, Casey	39 min
Apr 28, 6:39 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Garrard, Lincoln, Madison	41 min
Apr 28, 6:45 AM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Green	15 min
Apr 28, 12:50 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Marion	25 min
Apr 28, 1:14 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Boyle	36 min
Apr 28, 1:36 PM EDT	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	LMK	Garrard, Lincoln	29 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Kentucky, 2002 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2002

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.